Recently, while sitting behind a café window, I peered out at the passing people as though I were looking through a fish bowl; All sorts of people swam by me; old and young, foreigners and native Spaniards alike, some with dread locks and some clad in classic suits. And while those young people with their eclectic styles and hairdos, beautiful features and most fashionable designer clothes are ever captivating, on this day it was the older generation that really got me thinking. One by one and two by two these older people, rich in years, passed by my window and I observed them to be "elegantly aged."
The ladies travel in packs arms entwined and, though they are often barely five feet tall, their heads are held high and proud with each hair in place and their makeup perfectly applied. Knee length skirts and dainty scarfs decorate their aged yet regal figures that are perched atop
timeless and ladylike high heeled shoes. The men, though only out for a mid day stroll, do not hold back when it comes to dress either; top hats, and suits, ties and vests all adorn these frames as they amble down the narrow cobble stoned roads of Sol (city center).
I later began to wonder why the appearances of these older people caught my attention in the first place, why shouldn’t they look just as they do? And I thought about how that same generation looks in my own country; I realized that because such an emphasis is put on maintaining youth and avoiding age in the United States, it has become nearly impossible to age gracefully and with pride. At home our seniors, all too often, seem to take one of two paths as they get older; either they accept the role of being "old" and give up on taking pride in their appearances or they try to look twenty years younger than they are. "Older" and "attractive" are simply two adjectives that, in America, we rarely put together; however, in observing the elders in Spain those are the two very adjectives that frequently jump into my mind.
I think this senior group of Spaniards has got something figured out. They walk proudly and briskly (might I add) looking their age while maintainging class and elegance. They have not been defeated by their age but rather, they have embraced it; these tasteful men and women are making sixty, seventy and even eighty-something look pretty damn good!
The ladies travel in packs arms entwined and, though they are often barely five feet tall, their heads are held high and proud with each hair in place and their makeup perfectly applied. Knee length skirts and dainty scarfs decorate their aged yet regal figures that are perched atop
timeless and ladylike high heeled shoes. The men, though only out for a mid day stroll, do not hold back when it comes to dress either; top hats, and suits, ties and vests all adorn these frames as they amble down the narrow cobble stoned roads of Sol (city center). I later began to wonder why the appearances of these older people caught my attention in the first place, why shouldn’t they look just as they do? And I thought about how that same generation looks in my own country; I realized that because such an emphasis is put on maintaining youth and avoiding age in the United States, it has become nearly impossible to age gracefully and with pride. At home our seniors, all too often, seem to take one of two paths as they get older; either they accept the role of being "old" and give up on taking pride in their appearances or they try to look twenty years younger than they are. "Older" and "attractive" are simply two adjectives that, in America, we rarely put together; however, in observing the elders in Spain those are the two very adjectives that frequently jump into my mind.
I think this senior group of Spaniards has got something figured out. They walk proudly and briskly (might I add) looking their age while maintainging class and elegance. They have not been defeated by their age but rather, they have embraced it; these tasteful men and women are making sixty, seventy and even eighty-something look pretty damn good!
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